bing181

Good crowd it seems - could this help lift membership from out Casey way more than the presence of the men's team? Wouldn't surprise me.

Hindsight bias.

Lewis was third in our B&F, and that with missing a few matches.

Nails it. And the flow on from that would be broader interest in AFL proper, and from that ... media rights, merchandising, licensing etc., perhaps eventually full-blown AFL matches/leagues/teams. i.e., $$$

I wouldn't ignore the international element in this at all. One of the keys to AFLX is that it's basically played on soccer or rugby pitches - which you find all over the world, so this format removes one of the main stumbling blocks to access. There is interest outside Australia: Aussie Rules is building at a fairly rapid clip here in France, and that through local players/interest.

I live in Paris, and have taken to watching the local French AFL. Here, it's played with 11 (I think) players on a rectangular rugby pitch, though they round out the corners. When I first heard about it I thought it would be a bit mickey mouse but in fact, it's enjoyable to watch and is recognisably footy as we know it. I thought perhaps that scoring would be too easy, but it's not the case - on the other hand, with more skilful players, not sure, the standard here isn't particularly high. The league in France is coming on in leaps and bounds, and anything the AFL can do to develop and publicise this more accessible format will help, as it will in most places outside of Australia. Just to say, the only place you find cricket-pitch type pitches in continental Europe are athletic tracks, so hankering after a traditional oval is a waste of time. Having said that, where it's played in Paris, out on the playing fields near the Chateau de Vincennes, there IS a cricket pitch, which is very popular with the local Pakistani community.

The AFL are pretty clear: "Our sport is committed to addressing the cultural issues that cause harm to women and girls. We know that it requires policies, procedures, education and leadership to address those issues. This policy is about making sure that if and when we face incidents in our game that have harmed women, we have a transparent and trustworthy process to deal with complaints. The new policy includes: A clear complaint, investigation and support protocol The ability for members of the public to complain Increased oversight by the AFL's integrity unit Principles and objectives for disciplinary responses to harassment and violence against women Maintenance and review mechanisms "We know that football has fallen down in the past on the management of incidents involving harmful attitudes or actions towards girls and women. We need to send a message that individuals will be treated fairly and ensure they are provided with appropriate support." http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-11-16/transparent-trustworthy-afls-new-respect-policy

Not to mention the woman concerned?

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/swedens-rape-crisis-isnt-what-it-seems/article30019623/

Rather than wonder, you could have checked. But it's easier just to regurgitate what you've been spoonfed from Breitbart. Here: "What we're hearing is a very, very extreme exaggeration based on a few isolated events, and the claim that it's related to immigration is more or less not true at all," says Jerzy Sarnecki, a criminologist at Stockholm University. Sweden does indeed have far more reported cases of sexual assault than any other country. But it's not because Swedes – of any colour – are very criminal. It's because they're very feminist. Imagine, for example, if your boss rubbed against you in an unwanted way at work once a week for a year. In Canada, this would potentially be a case of sexual assault. Under Germany's laws, it would be zero cases. In Sweden, it would be tallied as 52 separate cases of rape. The marked increase in rape cases during the 2000s is almost entirely a reflection of Sweden's deep public interest in sexual equality and the rights of women, not of attacks by newcomers. Crime rates are mostly a product not of ethnicity but of class. In a 2013 analysis of 63,000 Swedish residents, Prof. Sarnecki and his colleagues found that 75 per cent of the difference in foreign-born crime is accounted for by income and neighbourhood, both indicators of poverty. Among the Swedish-born children of immigrants, the crime rate falls in half and is 100-per-cent attributable to class – they are no more likely to commit crimes, including rape, than ethnic Swedes of the same income family."

Actually, the origin of that article is, surprise surprise, Breitbart. All the other sites that ran it use the original story or quote it. No reputable publication has gone anywhere near it, for obvious reasons. Somewhat ironic that ProDee should be citing one of Sweden's leading feminists.

Laughable. When did you ever live and work in Europe? What do you know about the day to day lives of we here who do, and the role/place of muslims in that? I know muslims who are doctors, lawyers, in the army etc., and I work with/for/around muslims all the time - their interests and concerns are the same as mine ... what the hell was that goalkeeper thinking ... are my kids spending too much time on Social Media ... is my elderly mother getting the care that she needs etc. etc. What you're doing is just ignorantly demonising a whole population on the basis of their race and religion. For which there's a term.

Much ado about nothing.

Calling out a player who may have (legitimate) mental health issues as "weak" and a "mummies (sic) boy" has nothing to do with politics. Hopefully Harley is getting better support and understanding from the club than he's getting from some here.

"Jesse will have some time away from the club, while his mother has also flown over from Perth to be with him."

Just not true (read his interview, many of his issues flowed on from being long-term injured), but even if it is, so what? It takes a lot more mental courage to be honest with yourself about what your emotional needs are than it does to just plow on regardless, toughing it out because "that's what real men do". This is the kind of BS that leads to the suicide rate amongst men being X3 that of women.

Interesting that Rawlings is so involved - isn't he Casey's coach this year? Perhaps this is only for pre-season and/or when Casey aren't training.

Think the point is more that you can't win *without* considerable experience in the side - and shared experience at that. Not only are the key players at Richmond all (very) experienced and talented, they've played their whole careers together. If that's in place sure, play kids, honest grafters, other clubs' rejects etc. etc.

At least we know what's going on with Weideman. At this stage in his career would have liked him to have done a full pre-season, but them's the breaks.

Actually, that's not what he said, he said that according to Misson "everyone's tracking fine". i.e., regardless of how they came back, they were now all doing what was needed. Yes, pedantic I know, but it's a different point, and not necessarily a negation of yours. It's clear that Saty is a prickly character with his own take on things - and not just footy. Some are better dealing with that than others, while some (such as you?) ask, legitimately, whether they should have to deal with it at all. On the other hand, Saty isn't the only poster here who's a bit of a bruiser/has a short fuse, so either we have strict enforcement of guidelines (which is unrealistic IMV), or we accept a little collateral damage in the interests of there being a reasonable amount of give and take in allowing people to have their say ... such as it is.

Guess we can sell off that line of Wattbikes we invested in a few years back and let Jones, Garlett etc. know that they can stop wasting their time with boxing.

Swimmers and cyclists (especially) build endurance just fine without running. Add to that, Viney's been in the system for a few years now and there's a base level of endurance that starts to carry forward. When you can't train, it's the high-end, short-term fitness that you lose first. He'll still need running, of course, but it's more about what's going on with his feet/legs (muscular) than endurance.

Because? How would you classify a footy to the back of the head except as bad luck?

Not excusing anyone, but drafting has become a lot less hit and miss over the last 5 or so years for all clubs. More research, more resources, more professional overall. And all that coupled with an increased understanding of the crucial importance of development.

I only highlighted the first couple of games back from injuries in response to the original poster. All the players mentioned had more or less the same distribution of strong/weak games before and after injuries.